First I want to thank my virtual friends on Nairaland for your contributions to my previous threads. I really learned a lot but now becoming addicted to NL..LoL!!. God bless you all!

Please how can one own a small family business in Nigeria without involving family members if you don't live in Nigeria? I don't want to use anyone from my family. I did that in the past and it nearly resulted in family issues. This time I want to do it professionally with agreements. How can I do it to avoid being cheated. It's going to be a shop selling baby items, and family items. I have a source in USA willing to supply me at discount. I need advice on: (1)Agreement type, (2)Getting the right person? (3) Best way to compensate the person? (if commision, what's the right commission to pay)(4)Monitoring sales daily, weekly, or monthly(5) Must I use a family member? I will like to avoid family member if I can.

What are your past experiences and advice to me?

Girl, I will advice you sincerely,
Do not attempt owing a store in Nigeria without your body present live.

There are other ventures to involved like 1.vehicles with neat inventory ( easy only if you have a realiable salesman in Naija sef or else it's bad news too)

2. Hall rentals ; very neat too. There's no way they'd be booked without your knowledge cos you must have a good confidant monitoring the events there on weekly basis.

Besides those 2 I mentioned IMO , you'd end up with all your credit cards, line of credit ,equity ( if you a house) and savings maxed out and miserable for a veeery long time ( not joking o, just funny)

You're a newbie OP , chilax and save big.

Why dont you go into online business, i think madam CC is d one i can think about now that can educate you more on that
and as Jidegirl said, its not going to be sweet story if you want to set up buz in my naija without been present physically there.
I wish you goodluck.

Woged2005: First I want to thank my virtual friends on Nairaland for your contributions to my previous threads. I really learned a lot but now becoming addicted to NL..LoL!!. God bless you all!

Please how can one own a small family business in Nigeria without involving family members if you don't live in Nigeria? I don't want to use anyone from my family. I did that in the past and it nearly resulted in family issues. This time I want to do it professionally with agreements. How can I do it to avoid being cheated. It's going to be a shop selling baby items, and family items. I have a source in USA willing to supply me at discount. I need advice on: (1)Agreement type, (2)Getting the right person? (3) Best way to compensate the person? (if commision, what's the right commission to pay)(4)Monitoring sales daily, weekly, or monthly(5) Must I use a family member? I will like to avoid family member if I can.

What are your past experiences and advice to me?

The only way you can do that kind of business is Nigeria is to find a buyer in Nigeria that will PAY YOU FIRST before you deliver the goods. In fact your only responsibility AFTER RECEIVING PAYMENT is to source for the goods and ship it to Nigeria using the buyer's preferred shipper. The buyer should be responsible for clearing the goods.

Anything other than that, forget it. You will be told a bunch of stories as to why your money can't be made available.

They will frustrate you.you better keep your money

@OP THERE ARE SOME GOOD NIGERIANS NOT ALL ARE BAD OR 419 OK. LETS TALK BUSINESS ONE ON ONE E-MAIL ME ihedioramma@yahoo.ca

Anything that involves entrusting your cash outlay to another, anything that involves a third party handling your cash on a regular basis. With Nigerians of today (home and abroad), it would take a miracle to find a honest partner - I am not exaggerating o!

Don't commit any money you cannot afford to lose, wolves in sheep clothing are everywhere. They will promise you heaven and earth but wait till you fall into their hands. Still, miracles happen so never say never.

As for me o! I would not do it.

Woged!

The madam that opens threads up and down and does not come back to give feedback

Well you have been given good advise

I will just add this is not unique to Nigerians only
An business you want to start especially at the semimnal stage its best you are on ground running things
The only biz looks like it will work

You can run it asa batch order service where you receive payments and batch up deliveries to naija
You can also outsource delivery via the various sites available
This will remove stress from your side so you can focus on business devt and procurement

The mata plenty o but if you are willing to learn, you have a potential goldmine in the making

The major problem you will have here is trust
If i pay u money, where is my recourse if you dont deliver

Abeg dey try to come back to your baby threads

The main market for items like that is inside lagos island called dosumu street.maybe be you can try supplies.but it will end up the same shit

@OP can easily set up an e-commerce website and take orders from anywhere.
You will make it clear that the products will be coming from the states and also make them aware of the time frame for shipment and order delivery.
You can easily work out cost effective logistics with the parcel and package delivery companies.

biolabee: Woged!

The madam that opens threads up and down and does not come back to give feedback If i pay u money, where is my recourse if you don't deliver
Abeg dey try to come back to your baby threads

LoL!!, thank you ma. I do come back. But sometime the thread get's too long and people digress into something else unrelated that I don't even know how to redirect them back to the question without sounding rude. So I just give up. I take the useful advice and work with it. Nairalanders have been very useful.

Woged2005:

LoL!!, thank you ma. I do come back. But sometime the thread get's too long and people digress into something else unrelated that I don't even know how to redirect them back to the question without sounding rude. So I just give up. I take the useful advice and work with it. Nairalanders have been very useful.

you dont need to sound rude ma but a little update actaully brings the thread back to focus
Like the case of the senior uncle who has stayed away from his kids due to his wife how far
or the classic case of the lady that wants favors from her BF without s.exual relations

This are abandoned babies threads

Woged2005: First I want to thank my virtual friends on Nairaland for your contributions to my previous threads. I really learned a lot but now becoming addicted to NL..LoL!!. God bless you all!
Please how can one own a small family business in Nigeria without involving family members if you don't live in Nigeria? I don't want to use anyone from my family. I did that in the past and it nearly resulted in family issues. This time I want to do it professionally with agreements. How can I do it to avoid being cheated. It's going to be a shop selling baby items, and family items. I have a source in USA willing to supply me at discount. I need advice on: (1)Agreement type, (2)Getting the right person? (3) Best way to compensate the person? (if commision, what's the right commission to pay)(4)Monitoring sales daily, weekly, or monthly(5) Must I use a family member? I will like to avoid family member if I can.
What are your past experiences and advice to me?

You don't have to be in Nigeria "on ground" to run a business. Any business that requires your presence ALL the time is NOT a business - it's a job.
Let me share a few tips with you:

1. Go online. Your business seems like retail stuff. Have a great website denominated in different currencies (including Naira).
2. You need local bank accounts ( to confirm payment)... see if you can enable online payments through interswitch, etc
3. You need a good distribution platform. e.g. myUS dot com - it's a website that can ship anything you want (online) to any address in Nigeria. You can check it out or look for alternatives.
4. Instead of looking for people to employ as salespeople etc.... Why don't you factor the expense into a promo ON your website? e.g. Spend more than N20,000 and get a FREE gift item (with an actual list of items that the buyer can select from) .. OR.... Every person that refers someone that ends up buying something >N10,000 gets a FREE gift item... There are many ways to run around this. You just need to be creative.
5. Leverage on your network (physical and online) to market your website. Make it possible to register (email, phone etc) so that you can slowly build a database of customers that may end up being your sales-force (for FREE)
5. IMO this is a better model (with a few modifications) than opening a shop and incurring costs that you could have avoided.

... Oya so how much will you pay me for these tips?

aniffy4eva:

... Oya so how much will you pay me for these tips?

Thanks a milion times. Was wondering if credit card is widely used in Nigeria now for people to buy things online?

@annify4eva, phew ! that's a full time job on its own ... Good luck OP . *murmurs*

Woged2005: First I want to thank my virtual friends on Nairaland for your contributions to my previous threads. I really learned a lot but now becoming addicted to NL..LoL!!. God bless you all!

Please how can one own a small family business in Nigeria without involving family members if you don't live in Nigeria? I don't want to use anyone from my family. I did that in the past and it nearly resulted in family issues. This time I want to do it professionally with agreements. How can I do it to avoid being cheated. It's going to be a shop selling baby items, and family items. I have a source in USA willing to supply me at discount. I need advice on: (1)Agreement type, (2)Getting the right person? (3) Best way to compensate the person? (if commision, what's the right commission to pay)(4)Monitoring sales daily, weekly, or monthly(5) Must I use a family member? I will like to avoid family member if I can.

What are your past experiences and advice to me?

been in ur shoes,either way never works,forget about shop,if ur family could fail u,who could`t?,keep ur money or make out time for a market research on the importation,send the goods,go with the goods,supply and take ur money immedietly,or put ur money on fixdeposit account,the little profits could go a long way

Woged2005:
Thanks a milion times. Was wondering if credit card is widely used in Nigeria now for people to buy things online?

Commercial banks in Nigeria issue ATM cards (Mastercard, Visa or Verve) which are being used for online transactions. I pay a lot of my bills online.

jidegirl12: @annify4eva, phew ! that's a full time job on its own ... Good luck OP . *murmurs*

LOL @ jidegirl12
Usually, building a system is a lot of work (sometimes worse than a full time job). Once the system is up and running, the rest is basically routine.
_{*i run a very profitable online business*}

OP:why not go to one of these locally based business hubs and ask for help? They're there for a reason.

Venia Hub
Wennovation Hub

I am now Confuuuuuuzzzeeed!! Why can't simple things work in my country as they do in other countries? Thousands of lost opportunities and we are complaining about unemployment and poverty when u can't trust anyone or do business with anyone? . Should people really sympathize with our situation in Nigeria? Guuush!

Woged2005: I am now Confuuuuuuzzzeeed!! Why can't simple things work in my country as they do in other countries? Thousands of lost opportunities and we are complaining about unemployment and poverty when u can't trust anyone or do business with anyone? . Should people really sympathize with our situation in Nigeria? Guuush!

Nothing good comes easy and no business is a simple thing..
@anny4ever has given you good tips.browse them if you will.
Better than dealing with any Nigerian..family or not IMO.
...and about trust,it never written on anyone's forehead."The best way to find out if you can
trust somebody is to trust them.” but are you willing to gamble away your money like that?
Be wise!!

Woged2005: I am now Confuuuuuuzzzeeed!! Why can't simple things work in my country as they do in other countries? Thousands of lost opportunities and we are complaining about unemployment and poverty when u can't trust anyone or do business with anyone? . Should people really sympathize with our situation in Nigeria? Guuush!

Lol... Keep lamenting o mo meme!

jidegirl12:

Lol... Keep lamenting o mo meme!

Sister, you are laaaaafing at me eh! You can imagine how many opportunities like this have come and gone, and also imagine if those opportunities were well-utilized, why should employment be a problem in Nigeria? I'm begining to understand why some people don't give a dime to anyone back home..

Woged2005:

Sister, you are laaaaafing at me eh! You can imagine how many opportunities like this have come and gone, and also imagine if those opportunities were well-utilized, why should employment be a problem in Nigeria? I'm begining to understand why some people don't give a dime to anyone back home..

Now you know.... those people you trust with your life saving will ruin you to nothing! Don't TRY it! Period!

Woged2005:

Sister, you are laaaaafing at me eh! You can imagine how many opportunities like this have come and gone, and also imagine if those opportunities were well-utilized, why should employment be a problem in Nigeria? I'm begining to understand why some people don't give a dime to anyone back home..

Shebi you need someone to trust?
Oya,I full ground!!
I'm interested in th business.Trust me!!

You can get a manager who works remotely perhaps on a consultant basis as well, there are options that can be created that could make it financially beneficial to both parties. I'm an African American Living here in Nigeria and often caution people on doing business based on sentiment and relations as it usually has adverse on business productivity. If you like I can give you a few pointers are you in bb or you can send me your email address and we can discuss further.

Woged2005: First I want to thank my virtual friends on Nairaland for your contributions to my previous threads. I really learned a lot but now becoming addicted to NL..LoL!!. God bless you all!

Please how can one own a small family business in Nigeria without involving family members if you don't live in Nigeria? I don't want to use anyone from my family. I did that in the past and it nearly resulted in family issues. This time I want to do it professionally with agreements. How can I do it to avoid being cheated. It's going to be a shop selling baby items, and family items. I have a source in USA willing to supply me at discount. I need advice on: (1)Agreement type, (2)Getting the right person? (3) Best way to compensate the person? (if commision, what's the right commission to pay)(4)Monitoring sales daily, weekly, or monthly(5) Must I use a family member? I will like to avoid family member if I can.

What are your past experiences and advice to me?

chaircover: Its possible.

OP needs your advice sis and you dropped just two words. I'm all ears jare

Woged2005: I am now Confuuuuuuzzzeeed!! Why can't simple things work in my country as they do in other countries? Thousands of lost opportunities and we are complaining about unemployment and poverty when u can't trust anyone or do business with anyone? . Should people really sympathize with our situation in Nigeria? Guuush!

My sister there are good people in Nigeria that u can do business with or help u manage ur business, but the problem is when ur expectation is not met how would u react since u are not here. Don't forget that every business comes with its challenges.

Would u be patient enough for the business to grow because feasibility study may not manifest within a particular time frame.

What of if u start accusing the person managing the business for u when u are not getting the desired result.

U can give it a try, but no agreement can take away what I have said so far. Think deep. There are so many opportunities but d management of such opportunities is what matters.

I would suggest u look for someone that is interested in buying off items dat u have at agreed price. That way u won't have much to deal with.

Am sharing this from personal experience.

^^^ you're right and when certain expectations are not met the other party becomes a scammer.